Imagine
you are talking to a relative, a friend or a colleague. You are
sharing accommodation with others and take turns at doing daily
chores. The other person wants to know who made the beds and says to
you: "tell me, who made the beds yesterday?"

In
Spanish, the other person could choose to be less formal and say:

Dime,
¿quién hizo las camas ayer?

On the
other hand, he/ she could choose to be more formal and say:

Dígame,
¿quién hizo las camas ayer?

OUR
TIP

Making a sentence
which answers that question should be straightforward, but remember:

Make sure that you
conjugate your verb correctly

Choose between
formal or familiar options to suit the occasion -see examples below.

In
addition, the verb may also convey the mood
or feelings of the speaker toward the action which takes place. The
verb may, for example, indicate whether the speaker is stating a
fact, expressing a wish or indeed giving an order.

Irregular
Verbs

Verb:
hacer

The
Spanish verb hacer is irregular*
in some tenses, as shown in the table below:

Tense

Mood

Regular

Irregular

Present

Indicative

✓

Imperfect

Indicative

✓

Preterite

Indicative

✓

Future

Indicative

✓

Conditional

Indicative

✓

Perfect

Indicative

✓

Pluperfect

Indicative

✓

Future
Perfect

Indicative

✓

Conditional
Perfect

Indicative

✓

Present

Subjunctive

✓

Imperfect

Subjunctive

✓

Perfect

Subjunctive

✓

Pluperfect

Subjunctive

✓

* NB:

Conjugatetenses
in the regular column the same as other regular verbs ending in -er

The
simple past tense conjugation/ subjunctive mood is shown
below

Indicative
Mood/ Simple Past Tense - Conjugation

Verb:
hacer

Subject

HACER

(TO
DO/ TO MAKE)

I

Yo

HICE

You

Tú

HICISTE

You

Usted*

HIZO

He

Él

She

Ella

We

Nosotros

HICIMOS

You

Vosotros**

HICISTEIS

You

Ustedes***

HICIERON

They

Ellos

They

Ellas

*NB
More courteous/ polite form of 'you'

**NB
'You' plural

***
NB More courteous/ polite form of 'you' plural

Verb
Conjugation Notes

It
is worth remembering once more that in its basic form (infinitive),
a Spanish verb is just a general 'doing' word. In that form, a verb
simply indicates an action and nothing else. If we want a verb to be
more specific about the action in a sentence, we need to conjugate
it. It is only when conjugated that the verb indicates:

Who
does the action

When
the action takes place

The
mood/
attitude of the speaker towards the action

The conjugation
tables above refer to using conjugation to establish who does
the action. What follows below are some notes on establishing when
the action takes place and the mood/ attitude of the speaker
towards the action.

Subjunctive
Mood

The
use of subjunctive
mood
is disappearing English. Nowadays is often viewed as an old and
unfashionable form of the language.

In contrast, the
use of subjunctive mood is very much alive and in everyday use
in Spanish. This widespread use of subjunctive mood tends to be the
bane of many a learner of Spanish from the English speaking world.

The
concept of subjunctive
mood
is perhaps best illustrated by contrasting its use against the use of
indicative mood with examples in English. The following are a couple
of examples which should serve that purpose:

Indicative
mood (“Peter eats an apple”).-
Indicative mood is commonly used to make statements of facts or
positive beliefs such as this one. As can be seen in the sample
sentence (in quotes above), the speaker makes a clear and
unambiguous statement
of a fact (Peter
eats an apple).

Subjunctive
mood (“Peter would eat an apple if he were hungry”).-
In contrast with indicative mood, subjunctive mood is commonly used
to make statements indicating hypothetical or non-fact actions. As
can be seen in the sample sentence (in quotes), in this case the
speaker sees the action of eating an apple as something
hypothetical,
something which may or may not happen (Peter would eat an apple...
if he were hungry).

Verb
Tenses

Verb tenses relate
to setting the time period (when) during which the action of
the verb takes place. Basic times (periods) for Spanish verb actions
are:

The past (before
now)

The present (now)

The future (after
now)

Each
Spanish verb tense corresponds to one of those basic time periods. In
other words choosing a verb tense places the action of the verb in
one of those basic periods and determines when
the action takes place.

Now
you should practise the use of the simple past tense of the
irregular verb hacer with some examples of your
own.

About Us

I am a teacher of Spanish as a foreign language. I was born and educated in Spain. I have been living in the UK for most of my adult life. As a child, I was brought up speaking Gallego and Spanish. I studied Latin and French at school. In my travels, I have learned to communicate in English, Portuguese, Italian and Catalan. I am passionate about languages. Online Spanish lessons have become my labour of love. Through my Love-Spanish.com blog and Love-Spanish Google+ page, I post free online Spanish lessons and tips on a daily basis.